NOTE: Please note that not every module listed on this site is available to visiting students at UCC. It is important that you only select modules from the Visiting Student Module Catalog (above). Then, you may use this tool to search for syllabi for your chosen modules.

UCC Specialty Programs

In addition to the normal class offerings at UCC, API students may participate in one of several specialty programs, such as the Early Start Programs, Internship Programs and Certificate/Diploma Programs. As space in these programs is limited, it is recommended that students apply early if they are interested in one of these options.

Students earn the equivalent of an additional 5 credit hours for completion of the Early Start Program (with prior approval from their home institution).

Internship Programs – For Credit

Through the College of Arts, Celtic studies and Social Sciences, UCC offers two undergraduate modules that feature a practical work placement as a major component of the course. Work placements may be paid or unpaid, and may take place on- or off-campus for credit, though placement is limited. Students can earn 2.5 U.S. semester credits (in addition to their regular course load) for participating in an internship program, though they will not receive a grade for the internship.

In addition to their completed application, students wishing to apply must provide an outline of their academic background, along with a two-page statement on the reasons for applying for the internship. Applicants also need to provide the name of a faculty sponsor who can provide a recommendation. Additionally, API students may elect to participate in the UCC Works program, a university-level initiative that offers 3 different pathways – an internship pathway, a student life pathway, and a volunteering pathway. These options are not available for credit; however, students are awarded a certificate upon completion of the program, and are encouraged to record their participation on their C.V. or résumé.

Early Start Semester in Irish Archaeology

The Early Start Program in Irish Archaeology provides visiting students with a unique perspective on Ireland’s culture, history and landscapes. Through illustrated lectures, class discussion, and field- trips to spectacular archaeological monuments, students gain an understanding of the broad sweep of Ireland’s history from the initial settlement of the island after the last Ice Age, to the birth of the modern era in the seventeenth century AD. The course is designed to suit both archaeology/ anthropology majors and students with no previous experience of these subjects. Field-trips are a crucial part of the learning experience. As well as a range of sites in the Cork region, we explore Dublin city and its hinterland, Galway city and the stunning limestone landscapes of the Burren, and the Aran Islands. The course runs for four weeks in late August/September, after which time students join standard classes with their Irish counterparts.

The wide chronological scope of the course allows students to appreciate the similarities and differences between the various societies that developed in Ireland over the millennia. The most interesting subjects are selected for quite detailed treatment.

Invaders of Ireland – Many archaeologists now question the popular view that the Irish are descended from Celtic invaders. By engaging with this debate, students gain a sophisticated understanding of how modern Irish identities are constructed. Archaeology also provides us with a more balanced view of later invaders: the Vikings and the Anglo-Normans.

Irish Art and Architecture – Art of world-significance was produced in Irish megalithic tombs of the Neolithic period (c.4000-2,500 BC) and again during Early Medieval period (c.400-1169 AD) when works of astonishing beauty, such as the Book of Kells, were produced. In class and in the field, we will debate the significance of this art for the people who commissioned it.

Reading the Irish Landscape – By the end of the course, you will be able to read the Irish landscape, to understand the significance of the monuments you encounter and to appreciate the impact of those who built them on the wider environment.

Field-Trips – About half of the contact-time is in the form of field-trips. These have been carefully designed to give students as diverse an experience of Ireland as possible. An overnight trip to Dublin and its hinterland takes in some of Ireland’s most significant sites, including the decorated passage-tomb of Newgrange, one of the oldest surviving buildings in the world. Later on, we xplore the Burren and the Aran Islands. Here, soil erosion, some of it due to human intervention, has exposed the limestone bedrock to dramatic effect, and the rock has been used to construct iconic monuments such as the magnificent cliff-edge fort of Dún Aonghasa.

Early Start Semester in Irish Folklore and Tradition

Folklore is often understood as a hallmark of Irish culture, and the Department of Folklore at UCC is ideally placed to offer unique perspectives and insights into Irish life, popular culture, and traditions. It is one of only two such departments in Ireland. Folklore has a special place in the formation of Irish consciousness, literature and culture in general. The main difference between folklore and other fields is that folklore places ordinary life at the very centre of its interests. This cannot be accessed in other disciplines that study life from more distant or documentary perspectives. Years of experience in teaching and conducting original research into Irish life, traditions and folklore has made the Early Start Semester in Irish Folklore one of the most popular courses of its kind on offer and has led to the provision of a rich and rewarding Early Start Semester.

The Early Start Semester in Irish Folklore and Tradition offers an opportunity to students to begin the study of everyday life in Ireland, in all of its rich diversity and vast range of cultural expressions. Folklore, like its synonym popular culture, makes a study of everyday life, and represents the folkloric expressions of both past and present alike. It studies life from the bottom up, looking at how people lived their day-to-day lives – their houses, technologies, stories, rituals, beliefs, religion and cosmological understandings.

Students will explore key aspects of the study of folklore including:

Oral Literature

Narrative and Story

Popular Religion

Belief

Healing

Festivals

Popular Material Culture

Early Start Semester in History and Modern Ireland

The Early Start Semester in History and Modern Ireland provides the visiting student with a stimulating introduction to the major issues in the modern history and politics of Ireland.

The core element of the programme is The Challenge of Democracy in Twentieth Century Ireland. This course examines a number of key periods characterized by intense debate on Irish nationality and the forms of social, economic and political structures most appropriate to an independent, democratic Irish state. Particular attention is devoted to:-

The crisis of government in Ireland between 1912 and 1922, with particular reference to Home Rule, the 1916 Rising, and Michael Collins and the War of Independence. Irish-America, nationalism and partition.

The outbreak of the civil war in the south and intense communal unrest in Northern Ireland.

The consolidation of state authority on the island, with particular reference to the role of the Unionist Party in Northern Ireland and of the party system in the Free State.

The outbreak of ‘the Troubles’ in the late 1960s, and their impact upon social and political life north and south of the border.

The origins and development of the ‘Peace Process’ in the 1990s, with specific reference to the role of successive US administrations.

To complement the material covered in the formal lecture element of the course, students undertake a number of field trips, which provide additional information to extend the students’ understanding of the period. Cork is particularly suited to field trips of this kind given that it has been the site of many of the historical controversies under review.

Early Start Semester in Literatures in Ireland

The Early Start Semester in Literatures in Ireland provides the visiting student with an introduction to a wide range of Irish writing. The topics covered in this course include Irish fiction, poetry and film.

Twentieth-Century Irish Fiction – This section of the course will look at James Joyce’s novel Ulysses. Although Ulysses is one of the great novels of the twentieth century, students are sometimes afraid to read it because of its reputed difficulty. This class will make Joyce’s innovative and compelling work accessible and enjoyable. We will also read Elizabeth Bowen’s The Last September, a very stylish novel that examines the Anglo-Irish way of life.

Twentieth-Century Irish Poetry – In this section, students will read the poetry of William Butler Yeats. Beginning with his early work in the Irish Literary Revival, students will examine Yeats’ many reinventions of himself up to his death in 1939.

Irish Film – This section offers an intensive introductory course to Irish cinema and will examine films from the early days of film-making in Ireland to more recent examples from directors such as Neil Jordan, Pat Murphy and Thaddeus O’Sullivan. The relationship of these films to Irish society and culture, as well as issues such as the representation of gender, national identity, and financing, will be examined.

Field-Trips – Field-trips are designed to complement the central texts on the course, and as an introduction to the Irish landscape which plays such a major role in Irish literature. Day-trips include a visit to the ruins of Bowen’s Court in north Cork, the setting of Elizabeth Bowen’s novel The Last September. Students will also visit Dublin for some days to walk in the footsteps of Leopold Bloom, and recreate the events of Joyce’s Ulysses almost 100 years after Joyce imagined them. This visit to the city where Joyce set Ulysses will help to bring the setting and the novel to life. A visit to the Abbey Theatre, which W.B. Yeats helped found, and the National Gallery, will also form part of this trip.

Early Start Semester in Irish Traditional Music

This is a one-year specialized course combining tuition in performance, history and cultural study of Irish traditional music. The course is designed for students who want to increase their proficiency and knowledge in Irish traditional music by taking a range of modules in this area taught by the Department of Music at UCC. The full-time course is taught throughout two semesters of the academic year (from September to May).

Students will take a range of Irish traditional music undergraduate lectures, seminars and performance categories selected from years 1 to 4 of the BA and BMus degrees. There are many different music courses offered in each category, and Diploma in ITM students can select the most relevant ones in consultation with the course coordinator.

Modules include:

The Interpretation of Irish Traditional Music Repertoire

Instrumental, Vocal and Irish Dance Tuition

The Uilleann Pipes in Irish Traditional Music

The Concept of Regional Styles in Irish traditional Music

Irish Traditional Music Ensemble

Changing Aesthetics in the Performance of Irish Traditional Music

Early Start Semester in Management and Marketing in the European Union

This course is designed for students who wish to be introduced to the fundamental concepts and practice of management in the European Union (EU). It provides an insight into concepts and strategies of management and marketing in the EU, as well as the different cultural and business practices across the EU. The course challenges students to learn in a self-directed fashion. It also aims to give insight into and firsthand experience of the practice of management and marketing in Ireland and the EU.

This is facilitated through a number of field-trips to national and international businesses based in Ireland, where company representatives discuss a number of the topics covered on the course, from the perspective of their particular business environment.

This course is suitable for students from all disciplines and students are not required to have previously undertaken marketing or management modules in their home universities. Lectures, readings, case studies, group exercises and projects will be used to develop students’ analytical and presentation skills. The skills developed on this course, such as making effective presentations, will be of benefit in later life. It is important to be prepared for class each week, having completed any readings, exercises or case-studies which have been assigned previously.

The course utilizes a combination of classroom sessions, visits to local companies, and guest speakers from industry and government, to provide participants with an informed perspective on key areas of Irish and European industry. This is facilitated through the delivery of sessions by lecturers from the Department of Management and Marketing, UCC and invited guest speakers related to:

management practices in the EU

marketing practices in the EU

tourism marketing operations

management

human resource management

globalisation

family business management

social media marketing

Last year, for example, senior management from Waterford Crystal, Mount Juliet Golf Resort, TheIrish newspaper industry and many others, discussed their marketing and management practices with students, including opportunities presented and challenges overcome through their years in operation.

Certificate in Conflict and Conflict Resolution (Fall)

The Certificate in Conflict and Conflict Resolution is especially designed for visiting students at University College Cork (UCC) during the Autumn Semester It provides a comprehensive introduction to the issues dominating the study of contemporary conflict and conflict resolution processes. It explores the pattern and trajectory of conflict and the processes of resolution at a range of levels from small-scale disputes to international crises. The programme includes an explicit focus on the Northern Ireland experience of conflict and marries this with consideration of other types and scale of ethnic and international political disputes. Modules are designed to inform students about key concepts, developments and challenges in the study of political conflict and all its forms.

Particular attention is paid to: –

Theories and practice of conflict and conflict resolution;

Architecture of the international system and theories of international relations;

Certificate in European Human Rights Law (Fall or Spring)

This program is available to visiting undergraduate students with academic backgrounds in fields such as international relations, politics, sociology, law, criminal justice, philosophy, political science, social policy, European studies. It is a full-time program delivered in one semester (Semester Two/Spring Semester).

On successful completion of this program, students should be able to:

Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the concept of human rights

Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of European human rights standards and enforcement mechanisms

Evaluate the challenges arising in securing enforcement of human rights law globally and domestically

Analyze the problems arising in implementing European human rights norms to diverse societies and states.

Certificate in International Human Rights Law (Fall )

This program is available to visiting undergraduate students with academic backgrounds in fields such as international relations, politics, sociology, law, criminal justice, philosophy, political science, social policy, European studies.

On successful completion of this programme, students should be able to:

Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the concept of human rights

Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of United Nations human rights standards and enforcement mechanisms

Evaluate the challenges arising in securing enforcement of human rights law globally and domestically

Analyze the problems arising in implementing international human rights norms to diverse societies and states.

Certificate in Irish Studies (Year)

The Certificate in Irish Studies is an interdisciplinary program for visiting international students drawing on a number of academic disciplines which aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the whole range of the rich indigenous Irish cultural tradition over two millennia. The modules selected for inclusion here are those which reflect the earlier cultures – of Ireland in particular, but with reference to Scotland and Wales as well. The contributing departments are Early and Medieval Irish, Modern Irish, Archaeology, History and Folklore. For students interested specifically in the Irish language a weekend in an Irish–speaking area (Gaeltacht) is arranged (through the Centre for Spoken Irish) at Dún Chíomháin, the university’s Gaeltacht site in beautiful west Kerry. For more information about the courses required for this track, please contact the API office.

Certificate in Irish Politics (Spring)

The Certificate in Political Issues in Ireland Today is especially designed for visiting students. Starting in the second semester (Spring), it provides a comprehensive introduction to the issues dominating political debates on the island of Ireland. It examines the unique political systems of the Irish Republic, Northern Ireland and the European Union (EU). Modules are designed to inform students about key facets, symbols and emblems associated with the island’s politics and its position within the European Union. Particular attention is paid to: –

Structures of government in the Republic of Ireland

Theories and practice of policy-making in the Republic of Ireland

The impact of the EU on Irish politics

The political institutions and structures of the EU

The conflict in Northern Ireland

The role of the United States as a peacemaker in Northern Ireland

Critical evaluation of the Good Friday Agreement

Post-Agreement Northern Ireland

For more information about the courses required for this track, please contact the API office.

Certificate in Political Science (Fall)

Fall semester students may choose to enroll in the Certificate in Political Science. This program provides a comprehensive introduction to the issues dominating political debates at the international level as well as in a European comparative perspective. It explores the theories, dyanmics, processes and institutions which shape politics in the contemporary world. It focuses on democrative political systems and key political behaviors within them in th econtex of elections, voting, interest group activity, politcal party systems and political culture. By the end of this Certificate students will be able to:

Distinguish between different types of political regimes

Explore dominant approaches to political science • Describe differences between political systems in Europe

List main features of different research techniques

Analyze politics in a comparative manner

Assess strengths and limitations of international relations theories

Trace similarities in political institutions in Europe

Describe the architecture of the contemporary international system

Identify forces at play in international system

Predict outcomes of international crises and conflict

For more information about the courses required for this track, please contact the API office.

Diploma in Irish Traditional Music

This one-year program is designed for students who seek to increase their proficiency and knowledge in Irish traditional music by taking a range of specialized modules in this area taught by the Department of Music, UCC. The program is full-time taught throughout the academic year from September to May. Applicants are expected to have either some experience of Irish traditional music or extensive musical abilities in other genres of music, and must satisfy the Head of the Department of Music that they have the skills required to undertake the program. For more information about the courses required for this track, please contact the API office.

Diploma in Common Law (European)

The Diploma in Common Law (European) is an excellent one-year, full-time undergraduate course for law students. Core studies covering the legal system here in Ireland, law in the European Union, and legal research and writing combine with a choice of electives including subjects such as criminal law, banking law, IT law and medical law to make this an exciting study choice. This Diploma will not only provide students with a thorough understanding of the common law system as well as law in the EU, but also with a qualification which can be tailored to suit their own personal needs or preferences. For more information about the courses required for this track, please contact the API office.